Virginia Tech’s head coach Seth Greenberg received some bad news before the game as Tech’s starting shooting guard Dorenzo Hudson would have to spend the day on the bench in a dress shirt and khaki pants due to injury. Just as the team rallied around Hudson when Delaney was MIA against Seton Hall earlier this year, the team would do the same today.
Malcolm Delaney put on a show in Atlanta, torching the Yellow Jackets for 32 points. However, the two most surprising performances came from Hudson’s replacement Manny Atkins and the Hokie starting small forward Terrell Bell. Atkins started for the first time in his young career and played by far his best basketball of the season. He finished with just five points but chipped in seven rebounds and five assist.
Terrell Bell had an outstanding game in front of a few of his friends and his mom who were all in the stands. The Stone Mountain, Georgia product grabbed 13 clutch rebounds and chipped in 14 points to help seal the victory for the Hokies.
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Although the Hokies started slow, they began heating up around the 15-minute mark in the first half when they took their first and last lead of the game. The Yellow Jackets did rally a few times to cut it within two but the Hokies fended them off and were able to walk away with the victory.
Perhaps the most surprising element of this win was not the win itself but how the Hokies won. Despite some late turnovers and sloppy play, the Hokies had a 17 point lead on the road in a difficult environment inside Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Jackets did cut the lead down to three late before Virginia Tech hit some late free throws to seal the win, but that kind of dominance has to ship the Hokies into the conference tournament with a lot of confidence.
With this win, the Hokies are now 23-7 on the season and 10-6 in ACC play. They have clinched the four seed in the ACC tournament and will play the winner of the 5/12 matchup on Friday at 2 p.m.
Stats
Bullet Points
- The only bad news the Hokies received today is that Jeff Allen does have a dislocated shoulder. He did play through it but he will be re-evaluated in Blacksburg this week. Also, Dorenzo Hudson is going to stay in that walking boot until Wednesday when he too will be re-evaluated. No further word was issued on the severity of their injuries.
- The Hokies nine three pointers made in Saturday afternoon’s contest is the most the Hokies have made this season. The 52-percent three-point percentage is also a season high for this team as well.
- The Hokies 5-3 record in their last eight ACC games is the best mark in the Seth Greenberg era of Virginia Tech basketball.
- With this win, it will be hard for the selection committee to leave out Virginia Tech when they are creating their bracket from scratch next weekend. However, the Hokies could cement themselves even more with a win next Friday over either Clemson or Wake Forest. If they were to beat one of those two teams, it would give them four wins against the RPI top 50 this season.
Next Up
The fifth seed in the ACC tournament will be determined tomorrow when Wake Forest plays Clemson. Whoever wins that game will earn the fifth seed in the tournament and will play the Miami Hurricanes on Thursday. Whoever wins the Clemson/Wake vs. Miami game will play the Hokies at 2 p.m. on Friday.
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